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Save the Salmon by William Pfeifer Skagit Valley Herald, November 30, 2017

Do you want your grandchildren to be able to raise and love their own grandchildren and have them enjoy the pleasures of living in the Pacific Northwest? Rampant and unchecked government corruption and environmental mismanagement might prevent this scenario. A key victim of this malfeasance is the salmon population in Northwest waters.

Basically, commercial fish farms are breeding toxins and diseases and infecting virtually all the salmon on their migration. This, combined with polluted waters in Puget Sound and the Salish Sea, is causing drastic reductions in the populations of salmon and orca whales.

If the whales can't find salmon to feed on, is it a wonder why they are dying? The salmon are a fundamental, critical element in the West Coast ecosystem and they must be saved. Fish farms must be eliminated now.

The University of Washington posits that the alarming rate of decline for Southern Resident killer whales may be due in part to the decline in the whales' primary prey, chinook salmon.

Twyla Roscovich produced a video, "Salmon Confidential," that describes how the Canadian government is preventing scientists and citizens from taking fish farmers to task for their bad practices that are decimating the salmon population. A key point: The Sockeye salmon population decline is exactly coincident with the installation of fish farms in B.C. waters in the early 1990s.

Coho salmon are dying before they can spawn due to polluted waters. (Seattle Times) If a fish dies before it can spawn, that means hundreds of fish die, not just one.

The evidence is overwhelming; we must convince our representatives that saving the salmon and orca populations is paramount if we want our descendants to enjoy a rich, fulfilling life in the Pacific Northwest.